Knight and Wand

Chapter 14: Wolf in front and tiger in back
The undead hound had long lost the instinct to care for the injured. The violent vengeful spirit that had been unable to sleep for a long time was extremely eager for the breath of life. Its bloody mouth full of fangs bit straight at Leon, vowing to devour fresh flesh and blood.

The ghostly fire in the zombie's eye sockets dragged out two terrifying blood-red rays as it rushed forward. In a flash, Leon clenched the shaft of the spear and stabbed the tip of the spear fiercely into the mouth of the beast that was rushing towards him.

The mad dog had no intention of dodging and, as expected, crashed straight into the tip of the wooden spear.

The spear tip that had been inserted into the dog's mouth had just sent back a feeling of blockage from piercing the flesh, and before Leon could be surprised at his successful attack, the unrelenting force in front of him pushed him back a few steps. The rough shaft was carried by this force, leaving several bloody marks on Leon's palms.

There was a crisp sound, and the shaft of the wooden spear broke. The zombie warhound's big mouth suddenly bit down, and its jaws like giant pincers chewed the foreign object into pieces.

Its solid and sharp teeth acted like a wood chipper, easily crushing the wooden spearhead in its mouth into debris.

Leon was so shocked that he kept distance.

He stared at the ferocious war dog that chewed wood like it was eating sugarcane, and looked at the broken wood residues it spit out, and his mood fluctuated like a roller coaster.

Indeed, the dead zombie hound's brain was not very good, and its direct attacks were easily predicted by it. However, death also brought it an incomparable advantage. If a living creature was pierced through the throat by a wooden spear, no matter how ferocious the jackal, tiger or leopard was, it would be seriously injured or even killed.

But for the undead who have died long ago, the fatal injuries they suffered when they were alive will not have much killing effect at all. The girl's voice said that due to the characteristics of the spirit-like field, the undead here are more difficult to deal with than in the outside world. Even if they are beheaded, it is difficult to destroy their "activity". The physical structure or brain of the zombies must be destroyed to make them unable to serve as containers to carry the undead, in order to defeat their "physical" form.

Leon held the broken wooden stick in his hand and quickly approached the trap behind him with a serious expression. He did not dare to turn around and run away. An ordinary person's speed would not allow him to escape the pursuit of the beast. If his back was exposed, he would only die faster.

What should I do? Should I just chant the spell to activate the soul-repelling rune and extract the soul of this corpse dog?
No, they have already spent too much time and energy on the formation. If they just hastily waste the ceremony, there is no telling how many variables will arise when they try to collect materials again.

However, without anything that could be called a weapon, he was now unable to continue fighting against the ferocious zombie war dogs.

Just when Leon was at a loss, he saw Azerian quietly coming behind the zombie war dog.

The slow-witted and mindless zombie had no ability to predict sneak attacks. Its blood-red undead eyes stared grimly at Leon. It had no intention of confronting him and immediately rushed over with a barking sound.

The terrifying fangs appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye. Leon had no choice but to use the wooden stick in his hand as a baseball bat, step back, and hit the war dog's head with the stick in both hands.

Shouting the Dog Beating Stick Technique in his heart, Leon swung the stick and hit the dog's head accurately. With a powerful swing, he successfully knocked the giant dog's ferocious head to one side.

He raised his hand and tried the same trick again, but before the second swing could hit, the war dog poked its head out and grabbed the middle of the wooden pole tightly. Under the powerful bite of its sharp teeth, the wooden pole was as fragile as a cookie stick and was easily broken, completely turning into a short stick two palms long.

While biting off the stick, the war dog continued to move forward. Its huge and strong body knocked Leon to the ground with a fierce force, and its terrifying big mouth bit Leon's neck with a bloody smell.

At the critical moment of life and death, the desire to survive overwhelmed the fear of having his arm bitten off. He quickly grabbed the remaining piece of the short stick with his right hand and stuffed it into the bloody mouth in front of him.

The upright wooden stick barely held up the war dog's biting jaws. With his life hanging by a thread, Leon finally saw Azerien flying and jumping onto the war dog's back.

The young nobleman was seen riding on the back of the zombie war dog, holding the inverted dagger in both hands and stabbing the dog's head with all his strength.

The dagger penetrated the war dog's dry skin, but the tip of the blade did not go through its hard skull. The recoil almost caused Azerien to lose his grip. His dagger only grazed the outline of the war dog's skull and cut open the skin, then slipped to the side without any strength left.

The tip of the dagger, which had been unable to bear the weight for many days, was bent by the powerful impact. Annoyed by the poor quality of the weapon in his hand, Azerien did not give up even though the attack failed. He raised his right hand with the remaining strength and stabbed the war dog's eye socket fiercely this time.

However, the sudden and violent shaking and struggling beneath him forced the assassination attempt to deviate from the target, and the pointed dagger with a curved blade only pierced into the neck of the war dog. If it was used against a living person, severing the artery and trachea would still be an extremely fatal blow. However, they were facing undead zombies.

The war dog opened its mouth wide and spit out the short stick that was stuck in its bite, then swung its body wildly and easily threw Azerien off its body.

Before it could bite him again, Leon was quick-witted and stretched out his left hand to grab the dagger on the war dog's neck and pulled it out with force! Puff!
With the iron blade in hand, he changed the angle and pierced the long dagger covered in black blood into the dog's head from bottom to top. Leon pressed the dagger firmly against the gap in the war dog's lower jaw, and it was only a few inches away from the brain.

The corpse dog swung its body even more angrily. Leon desperately grasped the handle. This opportunity was hard to come by, and if he let go, all his efforts would be wasted.

“Ahhhhhhh!!!” Roaring angrily, he pushed the war dog’s body with his right arm and used his knees to turn over with all his strength.

Leon tried to push the struggling beast into the trap beside him.

A force suddenly came from the right. It turned out that Azerien rushed over again and hit the war dog hard.

Finally, this slight imbalance caused the beast to flip to Leon's left side.

The mindless zombie naturally had no ability to think about the enemy's strategy. Its heavy body crushed the thin mud camouflage and fell into the pit. Leon, who was turned over, did not let go. He just held the handle of the dagger and fell into the not-so-deep pit.

The short and thick wooden spike at the bottom of the pit easily pierced into the war dog's body under the action of its own weight as it fell. Leon felt his body suddenly pause, and his left hand used the force of the fall to push the dagger into the war dog's brain.

Gradually, the zombie stopped moving and finally turned into a real corpse.

"Leon! Are you okay?"

Azerien, who was above the pit, lay on the edge and looked down.

"Oh, it's okay. I'm not hurt because of this dead dog." Leon looked up and replied, thanking his luck.

Looking back at the war dog's eyes whose blood-red light had gone out, he twirled the dagger again anxiously, then pulled it out and thrust it into the corpse's eye sockets again, stabbing it several more times before stopping until he was sure the brain had been stabbed into a pulp.

Standing up and stepping on the dog corpse, Leon grabbed his partner's arm that was stretched out from the cave entrance and climbed out of the trap with difficulty.

But before he and Azerien could rest for a moment and recover, they immediately looked ahead in horror at what was happening.

At some point, a tall and mighty human-shaped black shadow walked out of the shadows of the forest with strange steps.

Snap——.Snap——.Snap——.Snap——.
The clanging sound of metal armor and the footsteps seemed to trample on the hearts of Leon and Azerien with every step. As they walked, the gorgeous swords in their hands swayed back and forth, flashing a dazzling cold light.

What came into view was a neatly dressed knight in armor.

The thick and solid plate armor was intricately and beautifully crafted, with the shoulder shield engraved with the thorny rose pattern that symbolized the family. The helmet part of the armor had long since disappeared, revealing a bald human head with dry and wrinkled skin clinging to the skull. The cold and eerie blood-red fire in the dark eye sockets revealed his identity.

A human knight transformed into a zombie.

Even though he had seen that dangerous and ferocious undead corpse dog, the human undead in front of him, which was transformed from its own kind, made him feel even colder to the bone. The inexplicable sense of danger that arose in Leon's heart was even greater than that of the previous war dog.

The ghost-like undead knight seemed to have smelled the breath of fresh living creatures, and his pace became faster and faster.

"Fuck you!" Leon just wanted to swear, not even taking a breath to rest. Could it be that the dead dog just now was raised by this guy?
He and Azerien did not dare to delay and crawled to their feet and fled.

But while running in the opposite direction, one wave of shock came after another, and a familiar roar that seemed to be threatening one's life came from the dense forest on the other side.

"Kill! Kill them all! Kill all the Kantadars! Kill anyone who stands in my way of saving my sister. Kill, kill! Kill!" The voice of hatred, whose reason was obscured by the demon of rage, was getting closer and closer.

Leon stopped and groaned in his heart.

Lohak, covered in blood, was running straight towards the open space!

The strong young man with a hideous face held a bloody sword in one hand and a freshly chopped-off zombie head in the other.

The chain mail on his body had gone through some fierce battle, and the chains and iron plates were covered with gaps and holes of varying sizes.

Leon stopped in his tracks. No matter what, at least they didn't have to hide from the corpse knight while waiting for Lohak.

The two men avoided the direction and ran to the side of the formation.

"Leave the rest to me. While they are attracted by the magic circle, you quickly hide in the woods outside!" Leon ordered Azerien to disperse, and then stopped at the edge of the formation.

Turning around, he nervously watched Lohak gradually approaching the range of the magic circle.

Even the Ghoul Knight stepped into the border from the other side.

That’s perfect, I’ll catch you all in one go.

Leon raised his hands, pointed his palms towards the core of the formation, and began to chant:
(Gulorelite) "Here are the words! I command with my name! Call upon the netherworld to open! Call upon the dragon of the eternally frozen dead sea!"

(End of this chapter)